The present invention relates generally to crates and more particularly to crates for carrying beverage containers, such as bottles.
Many designs for crates for carrying beverage containers are known. Some crates include a base having a pair of opposed side walls and a pair of opposed end walls extending upwardly from the periphery of the base. The crate may or may not have a plurality of interior columns extending upwardly from the base between the side walls and between the end walls to separate the bottles and partially define bottle receiving pockets.
For crates carrying smaller containers, e.g., approximately 16 to 24 ounce bottles, the bottles are typically arranged in a 4×6 arrangement, with four bottles arranged along each end wall. In this arrangement, the center of the handle is aligned between two of the bottles, thus providing sufficient room for the fingers of the user's hand grasping the handle. However, with slightly larger bottles, such as 1.5 liter bottles, arranged with only three bottles along each end wall, one of the bottles is aligned with the center of the handle, thus reducing the amount of space for the user's fingers.